The College Years – JFK100
Young Jack and older brother Joe were college students and did not move abroad with the family when their father was appointed Ambassador to England. However, their father often wrote to them about the latest news regarding the conflicts and tensions that everyone feared would soon blow up into a full-scale war.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. Jack was a senior at Harvard and decided to write his thesis on why Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany. It was later published as a book called “Why England Slept.” When Jack graduated in June 1940, around the time of this photo, his father sent him a cablegram from London: “TWO THINGS I ALWAYS KNEW ABOUT YOU ONE THAT YOU ARE SMART TWO THAT YOU ARE A SWELL GUY LOVE DAD.”
Photo: John F. Kennedy at the ocean in Hyannis Port, circa 1940-41.
Young Jack as a Toddler
When Jack was three, the Kennedys moved to a new home a few blocks away from their old house in Brookline, a neighborhood just outside of Boston.
Here’s a photo of John F. Kennedy with big brother Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., Brookline, Massachusetts, circa 1919.
This year is the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth! We’re celebrating JFK100 with a series all about JFK and this month we’re sharing photos and stories about #YoungJack. More about JFK100 at the @jfklibrary
JFK grew up in a large family- he was the second eldest of nine brothers and sisters! This photo – from one of Rose Kennedy’s scrapbooks – shows seven of nine Kennedy children (Joe. Jr holding Robert, John, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, and Patricia). The two youngest, Jean and Edward, weren’t born yet!
Learn more about the Kennedy family.
Photograph copyright John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
The Kennedy Children in 1928. (L-R) Jean, Bobby, Patricia, Eunice, Kathleen, Rosemary, Jack, Joe Jr. in Hyannis Port.
At the end of the school year, the Kennedy children would go to their summer home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod where they enjoyed swimming, sailing, and playing touch football. The Kennedy children played hard, and they enjoyed competing with one another. Joseph Sr. encouraged this competition, especially among the boys. He was a father with very high expectations and wanted the boys to win at sports and everything they tried. As he often said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
This year is the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth! We’re celebrating JFK100 with a series all about JFK and this month we’re sharing photos and stories about #YoungJack. More about JFK100 at the @jfklibrary
Photo from the JFK Library
Introducing a new series all about JFK
Can you spot the future President in this photo? John Fitzgerald Kennedy was named in honor of his mother’s father, John Francis Fitzgerald, the Boston Mayor popularly known as Honey Fitz. Before long, family and friends were calling the blue-eyed baby Jack. Photo of Rose Kennedy and five of her children, 1923. L-R: Rose, Eunice, Kathleen, Rosemary, John, and Joseph.
This year is the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth! We’re celebrating JFK100 with a weekly series all about JFK. Each month we’ll feature a new theme and we’re kicking things off with “Young Jack.” Stay tuned for more photos and facts about JFK’s childhood!
Art in the Archives: Blue on Blue
President and Mrs. Ford received this scale model of Ellsworth Kelly’s Blue on Blue from Marcia and Frederick Weisman in November 1975. Kelly painted the original work on aluminum in 1963. Its dimensions of 80″ by 60″ dwarf this model, which measures only 13″ by 9″.
Ellsworth Kelly began creating abstract art in the 1950s. His work is associated with minimalism, color field painting, and the use of hard lines to separate color areas. Blue on Blue illustrates two characteristic traits often seen in his pieces, simplicity of form and use of bright colors.
Frederick Weisman, a businessman from Southern California, and his wife Marcia, who had an interest in postwar American art, worked together to build a notable collection of modern and contemporary art. They also helped create programs to feature art in hospitals such as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. As members of the Collector’s Committee of the National Gallery of Art they attended a reception held at the White House on October 31, 1975, which is where they met the Fords. Marcia Weisman sent them the model of Blue on Blue the following week, writing that the piece “will hopefully bring some modern cheer to you both and the White House environment.”
The Weismans donated the original Blue on Blue from their personal collection to @lacma, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Images:
Scale model of Ellsworth Kelly’s “Blue on Blue” (1963), measuring 9″ x 13″, given to President and Mrs. Ford by Frederick and Marcia Weisman
Letter from Marcia Weisman to President and Mrs. Ford, 11/5/1975, from the White House Social Files Subject File, Box 40, folder “GI 2″
Letter from Betty Ford to Frederick and Marcia Weisman, 11/28/1975, from the White House Social Files Subject File, Box 40, folder “GI 2″
Lauren Bacall seated on the piano with Vice-President Harry S. Truman at the keyboard at the National Press Club canteen. February 12, 1945.
As a child, Harry Truman loved to play the piano and he would get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to practice for two hours.
When he became a man, music remained his first passion after politics, and he often said that if he had been a good pianist he never would have become President. Read more
-from the Truman Library
Ever wondered what the President’s view of the press is during a White House photo op??
Here is a view of the rest of the room during the photograph we posted earlier this morning of President Nixon and James Fletcher of NASA. (Image: WHPO-8172-04)
Wow, this is a fascinating behind-the-scenes photo of a photo. Nice find from @richardnixonlibrary.
#OTD December 21, 1970 - Elvis Presley visited the White House with his associates Jerry Schilling and Delbert “Sonny” West. Here is a never before publicly seen item we recently discovered and opened this week in the Record Group (RG) 87 collection - Records of the Executive Protective Service! It is the Appointment Record for the Presley party to be admitted at the Northwest Gate of the White House.
The President and the King
On the morning of December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley personally delivered a hand-written letter on American Airlines stationery to a security guard outside the White House.
In the letter, Elvis stated that he wanted to meet with President Nixon and give him a gift. He also indicated his desire to gain the credentials of a federal agent in the war on drugs.
After a brief discussion with Presley and his bodyguards, Nixon aide Egil Krogh was convinced of Elvis’ sincerity. He asked Elvis to return to his hotel and wait for a phone call.
The meeting was approved and an agenda was quickly drafted for a 12:30 meeting.
What happened next? A Nixon Aide took these notes:
“The meeting opened with pictures taken of the President and Elvis Presley.
Presley immediately began showing the President his law enforcement paraphernalia including badges from police departments in California, Colorado and Tennessee…
The President mentioned that he thought Presley could reach young people, and that it was important for Presley to retain his credibility. Presley responded that he did his thing by ‘just singing.’ He said that he could not get to the kids if he made a speech on the stage, that he had to reach them in his own way. The President nodded in agreement…
Presley indicated to the President in an very emotional manner that he was ‘on your side.’"
Fun Fact: The photo from this impromptu meeting on December 21, 1970, is among the most requested from the National Archives. The Elvis-Nixon meeting draws more inquiries than the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
Images:
Elvis and Nixon in the Oval Office, 12/21/70.
Gift from Elvis Presley to President Nixon, WWII handgun.
Elvis Presley’s letter to President Nixon, page one. 12/21/70.